Let’s say a lead first messages us via Instagram. A contact is created without an email. Later, we manually create a new contact using their email (since we couldn't find them via search). If the lead eventually shares their email in a future DM, HighLevel will automatically attach that email to the original Instagram contact — but it will not detect that a separate contact with the same email already exists, resulting in duplicate records.

This creates:

Confusion in communication

Incomplete or fragmented contact histories

Broken automation flows

Possible misfires in email/SMS campaigns

💡 Feature Request:

Automatically merge contacts that have the same email address, even if they originate from different sources (e.g. Instagram, manual entry, form submission).

✅ Ideal Behavior:

When a new contact is created or updated, HighLevel checks if the email already exists in the system.

If a match is found:

Merge the new data into the existing contact record

Preserve all communication history (from IG, email, SMS, etc.)

If conflicting fields exist, use last-updated logic or provide merge rules.